


Wish and Wait For You

by IndigoFudge



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alcohol, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Injury, Canon-Typical Violence, Eddie Kaspbrak Lives, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, M/M, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier is a Mess, Short One Shot, Singing, Temporary Character Death, i just had an idea and Had to put it out there yk, i put no effort into this, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:27:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27644810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoFudge/pseuds/IndigoFudge
Summary: Three times that Richie sang for Eddie.Title is from the song "Eddie My Love," by the Chordettes, and some of the lyrics are used within this work. I do not own the rights to this song.
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	Wish and Wait For You

**Author's Note:**

> TW for emetophobia at the very end. It's fine, though.

1\. 

"Party" isn't a good word for what's happening right now, because it's only the five of them, and they're keeping it pretty low-key. Queen is playing while Mike and Bill give heart-eyes to each other in the corner and Stan does crosswords. _Crosswords_ , _Stan? How much more of an old man can you get?_ thinks Richie.

After trying to annoy everyone else to no avail, he flings himself dramatically across Eddie's lap on the couch. "Eddie, baby," he croons, reaching for Eddie's face and missing. He's 16 and the alcohol that Bill snuck over is making his head fuzzy. "Give me a kiss."

" _No!"_ Eddie splutters. His face goes red. "Absolutely _not!_ That's _disgusting_ , Richie, do you want me to get mononucleosis?" He shoves Richie off his lap, rolling his eyes, unable to hide his smile.

"Well, I guess I'll hafta woo you, then." Richie stumbles and throws his arms open wide. "Mike, turn that music off, will you? _I'm_ gonna be the entertainment now. _This_ performance goes out to the love of my life, Eddie Kaspbrak." 

The radio shuts off; he clears his throat and begins to sing.

"'Eddie my love, I love you so. How I've wanted for you, you'll never know. _Please, Eddie,_ don't make me wait too long!'" He's grinning, throwing an arm around Eddie's shoulders. "'Oh Eddie, Eddie, I love you soooooo!'" Stan wolf whistles from across the room. Looking down, Richie realizes his hand is resting on Eddie's leg, and their mouths inches apart. They are so close that he can see the tiny flecks of gold in Eddie's irises. It makes his heart do a hard thump inside his chest. He quickly scrambles away before anyone can say anything. " _Eddie_ _Spaghetti,_ everyone!"

2\. 

Eddie is dying.

He's lying with his head on Richie's chest, taking measured breaths. Richie tries not to cry. "You're gonna be okay, man, I promise."

"No," coughs Eddie. "I'm not." It's a few more minutes before he says "Rich, listen, I- I feel fuckin'... _stupid...._ saying this, but... can you please sing to me? Please? I- I don't want to die hearing all this noise, and... I always loved your voice."

Richie brings a hand up and absentmindedly rakes his fingers through Eddie's hair. "You're not..." He trails off, pressing a light kiss to Eddie's head. "It's not stupid, Eddie. I'll do it. Any song preference?" 

"Eddie My Love." The ghost of a smile appears on Eddie's lips. "You used to sing that to me. It makes me happy. Makes me _remember._ " His next breath catches in his throat; he curls his fingers around Richie's leather jacket and grimaces.

"Of course," mumbles Richie. "Yeah, I can sing that." Hot tears prick at his eyes. When he gets to the third verse, he gets choked up. "'You left me last September... since that time, I've been so alone... Now all I do is wish and wait for you, Eddie, since you've been gone.'" _It's a prediction,_ he thinks bitterly, kissing Eddie's hair again. "Am I doing good so far, Eds?"

Eddie is silent.

Richie shifts so he's kneeling over Eddie, mirroring the position they'd been in just half an hour before. He taps Eddie's cheek. "...Eddie? Come on, man, don't fucking- don't, don't do this to me, Eddie, _please."_

Eddie's eyes stay closed. 

_At least he looks peaceful,_ thinks Richie, and then a hysterical sob rips its way from his lungs; he buries his face in the leather jacket that Eddie's clutching. "I love you," he cries. "I love you, dude, fucking _wake up_ , please, _please_ wake up."

But Eddie doesn't.

3\. 

One of the worst parts about abandoning Eddie down in the depths of Neibolt is that they can't have an actual grave for him. Richie drags them all to the Barrens the next day and they throw together a makeshift one, more of a shrine - by the yawning mouth of the sewer, so it can be as close to the actual body as possible. And then everyone leaves.

Except for Richie.

He sits by the shore, the knees of his pants getting wet and muddy. He's already picked wildflowers and arranged them around the headstone. There's really nothing else to do to make it look _good,_ to make it look _real,_ because it _isn't_ real. But he can't leave. 

"I never finished the fucking song," he mumbles, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes. 

Chickadees call out. The humid air makes Richie's curls more and more wild the longer he sits on the bank, but he still stays. Something inside his heart won't let him.

Finally he throws his hands down. "Is _that_ what I have to do? Finish the- the _song?"_

Obviously there's no answer, because why would there be? 

He lets out a long sigh, checking around surreptitiously for any clowns or Bowers hiding in the bushes, even though he knows they're dead. " _Fine_ ," he whispers harshly. 

Here, by the sewer's opening where Eddie had griped about staph infections so long ago, Richie Tozier begins to sing.

"'Eddie my love, I'm sinking fast. The very next day might be my last,'" he starts, shakily. "'Please, Eddie, don't make me wait too long. Oh Eddie, Eddie, I love you so. _Eddie my love._..'" 

There's a _splash_ from the sewer pipe, and Richie whirls around to face it. His heartbeat speeds up until it's just a buzz. _Oh, fuck,_ he thinks. _Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,_ fuck.

It's the clown wearing Eddie's face. _It's the clown wearing Eddie's face!_

"We- we _killed_ you!" Richie shouts, crawling backwards. "You're dead!"

"Do I look dead to you?" says the clown, and it's talking in Eddie's voice, too. "Shit, Richie, I'm so happy to see you."

Richie backs up against a tree. His chest heaves. "D-don't use his voice! Don't you dare!" 

The thing-which-is-absolutely-not-Eddie scoffs. "Wait- you think I'm the fucking _clown?_ Richie, you _asshole._ " It sticks its fist out and punches Richie in the arm.

Yelping, Richie grabs at his arm. He takes another look at the clown.

He takes another look at.... at _Eddie._

Because it really is Eddie, isn't it? The clown always twisted something in one way or another - the teeth, the clothes, the color of the eyes. This looks like Eddie. It looks fucking _exactly_ like Eddie. 

Richie throws up on the grass.

"Hey, whoa," says _Eddie_ (!!!!!!!!!!), grabbing his shoulders to steady him. " _Dude._ Look at me. _Hey,_ jackass, stop vomiting your guts out and _look at me._ "

Carefully, tentatively, Richie does.

Eddie's face softens with relief. " _Richie,_ " he says, and then starts to cry. 

"No, no!" Richie wraps Eddie into a tight hug. "Eds, no- no crying, _I'm_ the only one allowed to cry here."

Eddie sniffs, pulling back a little so his gaze can search Richie's. "Sorry, Rich, it's just- I was wandering around in there for _hours,_ and I know I'm good at that shit but- but I thought I'd never find my way out... and then I heard you singing."

Richie blanches. " _Fuck,_ sorry, I- I didn't want to leave here, you know, because- okay. We made you a stupid makeshift grave, and said some things, and then they all left to get back to their lives and shit but I _couldn't_ , I.... Eddie, you died before I could even finish the song. So. I guess I just... I felt like... like I needed to sing the rest. On my own." 

"I'm glad you did," Eddie muses. "If you hadn't, who knows how long I would have been stuck in there. The... my chest is healed. Don't know how. Maybe there's still some residual magic here in this hick town." 

"Yeah." Richie lifts a hand up and tenderly cups Eddie's cheek. " _Eddie._ "

Eddie smiles. _"Richie,_ " he says again, leaning forward enough so that his forehead brushes against Richie's. "Keep singing."

"What?"

"You're almost done with the song, fuckhead. I want to hear the end." Eddie touches Richie's hand; laces their fingers together. 

"O-Okay," Richie stutters out, electricity sparking at every point of contact between them. "Um... 'Oh _Eddie, Eddie,_ I love you so... Eddie my love, I love you so.'" The last word leaves his mouth and hangs in the air.

Eddie glances down at Richie's lips. "Rich," he says, his voice low. "Do you want to kiss me?"

"What?" Richie stiffens, heart jumping into his throat. 

Backtracking, Eddie's cheeks turn pink. "I mean- you don't have to, sorry, I was- _fuck,_ I was reading that wrong, just- never mind, I-" 

Richie cuts him off with a kiss. " _Idiot_ ," he breathes. " _Yes._ I'll never say no to kissing you. _Eddie my love._ "

"'I love you so,'" sings Eddie, laughing. 

"Yeah," says Richie. "I love you so."


End file.
